Posted Jun 14 2012, 08:14 PM by Cathy EricksonIt's just so strange to be watching our favorite PGA Tour players struggling at the Olympic Club on the first round of the US Open. I'm actually watching right now and with all the players either on the course or already done there are currently only 5 players under par out of over 150 guys. FIVE players. We know the US Open course is going to be tough, long roughs, fast greens, and tight fairways. But this is a whole new level of hard when best players in the world can't break par.Even the announcing team has to change their usual chatter...they are celebrating bogey saves and continually reporting in on some unforunate bounce or extremely difficult lie in the rough. Chip shots or approach shots over 20 feet away are applauded. It's rough out there...literally.

Posted May 28 2012, 11:27 PM by Cathy EricksonIn just a few weeks, The Olympic Club in San Francisco will play host to the 112th US Open Championship. The second Major of the PGA Tour Season, the US Open is a test of patience, confidence, and decision making for the 156-player field. But this field is a little different than most of the PGA events we watch. When the final pairings are posted you'll see sprinkled in the list of the best players in the world the names of a few dreamers.The US "Open" allows any golfer with a handicap no greater than 1.4 the chance to qualify their way into a Major Championship field. There were 109 local qualifiers with over 8,500 players competing to advance to the Sectional Qualifying to be held in 11 locations across the US on Monday, June 4. Just over 9,000 applications were accepted this year (including exempted players and those advancing right to sectionals), and only 550 players will compete in sectionals.

Posted Jun 14 2011, 02:02 PM by Cathy EricksonHi Golf Friends...man, it's been awhile since I've written and I can tell - I've missed the "therapy" I get when writing about my favorite thing in the world. Life's been a challenge lately, but this past weekend I was on the course and my happy place reminded me that I can't forget what keeps me grounded. So many golf thoughts came to mind that I couldn't help but feel a renewed spirit...so here I am! I'm going to have to "scatter shoot" like Sam this week because I've got a lot of golf on the brain! Where to start?!

Posted May 09 2011, 07:01 AM by Cathy EricksonOne of my favorite times of year is coming up. It's US Open Qualifying! It's the shorter and more inexpensive version of the Q-school format, and while not playing for a Tour Card, you're still vying for the chance to tee it up with the best in the world.According to a USGA press release, 8,300 golfers registered to start the US Open Championship entry process. Sixty-five of those guys are already exempted straight into the championship...and there could be more by the time June rolls around and all of the exemption criteria come into play. A whole bunch more can exempt themselves into the sectional event if they meet any one of 34 exemption criteria, including, the Top 10 on the Canadian Tour money list, the Top 20 on the Sunshine and Challenge Tour money lists, and certain members of past Walker Cup teams. Want to know all of the exemptions? Just click here: https://champs.usga.org/EntryForms/usopen_2011.pdf

Posted Jun 23 2010, 04:31 PM by Cathy EricksonThis is my second version of my weekly golf ponderings. Had I posted what I wrote last night you would have read a rant about one of my favorite writers, Sam Johnson. In his blog last week, Sam was once again having one of his Tiger love-fests. The funny thing was, it wasn't even the collection of Tiger superlatives that really bugged me. It was his comment that golf being like life was "preposterous". When I read that it felt like I had just gotten punched in the gut...the foundation of my greatest passion, golf, is that life lessons are waiting for us each time we set foot on the first tee.Needless to say, after reading his "Legends" post, Sam Johnson was in serious jeopardy of falling out of my top ten favorite list.

Posted Jun 17 2010, 05:10 PM by Cathy EricksonWhere I live, we're in the midst of Marathon week - thousands of runners and thousands more spectators are moving their way into to our little neck of the woods to watch people make it across a wide white line painted on the street after running 26.2 miles.I've never been able to comprehend the idea of people "choosing" to run...I see it as two-fold, if I'm running, I'm either trying to get to something (maybe to the post office before it closes or maybe after the gal carrying the dessert tray), or I'm trying to get away from something (the rain when a down pour happens on the golf course or away from that spider crawling on the wall).

Posted Jun 03 2010, 09:32 AM by Cathy EricksonIn a few weeks we will be treated to the US Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links - June 14-20, 2010. The United States Open Championship is open to any professional golfer, and any amateur golfer with a handicap of 1.4 or less. That means any guy with the right handicap and a dream could have the chance to compete at the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach!At the close of entries on April 28, 2010, there were 9,052 men who turned in applications, including 63 players who were already fully exempt into the Championship (as of May 10). Each guy forked over $150 to start the dream to get to Pebble Beach.

Posted May 13 2010, 09:36 AM by Cathy EricksonGolf Digest held its third annual contest that lets one lucky winner play the US Open Course as it sets up for the players to try to break 100. This year it's the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links - what a dream! Golfers from all over sent in just short of 25,000 60-word essays on why they should be given the chance to break 100 at Pebble Beach with Mark Wahlberg, Drew Brees, and Wayne Gretzky.The judges had a hard time narrowing down the field to just 5, but after meeting with 13 semi-finalists they felt they had five very deserving candidates. Here was the description from Golf Digest:

Posted Jan 06 2010, 01:39 PM by Cathy EricksonIt's Here!! The 2010 PGA Tour season starts this week! I realize for some golf fans the PGA season starts with the Masters and ends with the PGA Championship, but after finding an exploded case of Diet Coke with Lime in the back of my car on Monday (yes, it was THAT cold in my garage!), I need the warm thoughts of golf and Hawaii to replace the dread of having to clean out my car...thank goodness there were no golf clubs back there!

Posted Dec 15 2009, 08:39 AM by Cathy EricksonI thought it might be a good time to check out how I did on my predictions for the 2009 PGA Tour season. Back on January 6, 2009 I made the following guesses in italics (see the 2009 Predictions Thread in the forums):I think I can only improve from my predictions from last year - they were not good -This is a true story. I'm awful at making predictions, but there is something fun in getting the chance to guess right every once in awhile!

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When I found Tees2Greens website and forum I found a happy place. There were great people there and in 2009 they asked me if I wanted my own blog space. It was a dream come true!! The site is down now, but I was able to get all of my posts to be able to post here. I will always be grateful for all of the Tees2Greens folks!!